The apprenticeship levy is finally here.

Employers with a payroll of over £3m will pay 0.5% of that payroll out in levy, and will then get it back (plus 10%) to spend on apprenticeships training, certification and – where included within a framework or standard – qualifications. They will be able to spend their apprenticeship vouchers with any training provider that’s on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers.

The government wants 3 million apprenticeships during the lifetime of this Parliament (2015-20), and the levy is one tool being used to encourage employers who don’t take on many (if any) apprentices at the moment to increase their numbers. As we drive towards 3 million starts we must take care not to dilute the quality of apprenticeships. Although they’re not required, many of the newly developed apprenticeship standards include recognised qualifications, which employers have pushed for as they give apprentices real evidence of their transferable skills and competences.

To celebrate the launch of National Apprenticeship Week 2017, we have a guest blog from Ann Watson, Chief Executive of Semta

I’m delighted, as the head of the organisation championing skills in advanced manufacturing and engineering, to lend my support to National Apprenticeship Week. But the truth is that in the sectors that Semta represents, we don’t just have one week a year dedicated to apprenticeships – they are a tried and tested route into an engineering career, with around a quarter of the sector’s workforce having undertaken one and board members at a number of our most famous household names having done so too. Employers in engineering go into schools and colleges all year round to promote apprenticeships as a strong and valued way into the sector, and they have so many programmes and initiatives up and running to show young people why they should start one.

Quality has been a watchword in engineering and manufacturing apprenticeships for a long time. If you undertake an engineering apprenticeship, you do so in the knowledge that you’re doing something which has been refined over many decades by employers – it’s a tried and tested way to bring new talent into the sector. Employers are now in charge of designing apprenticeships themselves, which means that when you start an engineering apprenticeship you can be certain that you will be gaining the skills employers really value and need.

This is such a fantastic time to be taking the reins at EAL, with so much policy change happening and so many exciting new opportunities opening up.

We may have launched our 25th anniversary celebrations at a special event in Parliament recently, and the framework in which we work may be set there, but the continued success of EAL will be made out in the field, by EAL learners and in EAL centres.

And that, after all, is why we do what we do at EAL. We know, because we work every single day with employers and our centres across the sectors we serve, that qualifications are vital in enabling them to have the confidence in the skills and competence of their workforces. We know too that learners value their qualifications as a way of giving them currency in a competitive and fast-changing jobs market. And we know from working with our centres just how passionate and dedicated those who deliver EAL qualifications are to maintaining rigour and quality in the skills system – EAL wouldn’t have the reputation we do without their hard work.

Our EAL centres are full of fantastic people – brilliant tutors, high-achieving learners and real champions of skills.

Yet how often do we or you shout about it? Not often enough in my view.

That’s why I am asking you to make sure this wealth of talent is recognised by entering or nominating your organisation, learners or an employer you’ve been working with for the prestigious Semta Skills Awards.

These are no ordinary awards – now in their fourth year, they honour the very best in British advanced manufacturing and engineering, giving the winners exposure to leading employers and the wider population, providing inspiration to others.

I am certain we can all name at least one apprentice, higher apprentice, graduate or skills champion who deserve to be recognised.

To celebrate National Women in Engineering Day, we've a guest blog from Ann Watson, Chief Executive of Semta

It’s a well-rehearsed script by now, but as it’s National Women in Engineering Day it’s well worth running through once again the top three reasons that it is so crucial that we up the numbers and proportion of women in engineering – from the nine per cent of the sector’s workforce women comprise at present to as close to half of it as possible.

One – we have an almighty skills shortage, it is well documented that we need some 830,000 science, engineering and technology (SET) professionals and 800,000 STEM graduates by 2020 to meet employer demand.

Two – broadening the talent pool would inject creativity and new ideas into an engineering sector which relies on those things to remain world-leading.

Three – we cannot afford, as a country, to waste the potential of girls who might be inclined towards a STEM career. If we increased the number of women in STEM to match the number of men it’d be worth some £2bn per year to the UK economy – that is not an inconsequential sum of money which could be used to build the schools and hospitals we all rely upon.

We were delighted to announce in May that a number of EAL qualifications now carry UCAS tariff points which meet Department for Education requirements and will count towards league tables and university entry.

This is a major milestone which gives many of our awards parity and context alongside academic achievement and allows our FE customers a much greater choice. EAL awards are much more flexible than those of other awarding bodies.  They provide a blended more vocational offer, that suits a wide range of learners, combining theory with practical application and a variety of assessment methods from online examinations to practical projects, which can be tailored to fit the needs of the training organisation and its learners.  Our qualifications have choice and flexibility to be delivered as standalone qualifications or alongside qualifications such as A-Levels and are suitable for all ages – from Key Stage 5 (16-18) to full-time adult learners.